Samantha Fish was only twenty-seven when she played the King Biscuit Blues Festival in 2015, but this blues singer already understood what it takes some veterans a lifetime to figure out. "The only kind of relatable blues is stuff that really comes from your heart, so you can't copy it. It's impossible. . . . the catch-22 of blues music is that I've had kids come up to me, too. They're like, 'I wanna play blues and be successful." Fish tells them, "Listen to everything, but don't try to sound like those guys. . . . I'm young. I still pull things from people that I really like."

Fish grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, listening to rock-and-roll and country music. She loves all of it. She says writing music is a habit, like working out—the more she does it, the easier it comes. Fish's fourth album, Chills & Fever,   is a collection of cover songs as much about Jackie DeShannon as it is Allen Toussaint.

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